List of people from Budapest

Last updated September 06, 2025

The following list includes notable people who were born, lived or resided in Budapest, Hungary and/or who became its honorary citizens, either during their lifetime or posthumously.

Academics

Mihail G. Boiagi - grammarian and professor
Raoul Bott - mathematician
Gábor Döbrentei - philologist and antiquary
Paul Erdős - mathematician
Endre Fülei-Szántó - linguist
John Harsanyi - economist, philosopher, and laureate of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics ^[1]
Theodor Herzl - journalist, political activist, and father of modern political Zionism
Károly Kerényi - scholar
János Kornai - economist
Peter Lax - mathematician
László Lovász - mathematician
Michael Polanyi
George Pólya - mathematician
Sándor Scheiber - rabbi and scholar
Thomas Sebeok - semiotician
Thomas Szász - psychiatrist and activist
Endre Szemerédi - mathematician
Edit Tasnádi - literary translator and academic

Artists

Andrea Bartha - set designer, costume designer, and visual artist
Robert Capa - photographer
Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka - painter
Gábor Csupó - animator
Béni Ferenczy - sculptor and graphic artist
Árpád Feszty - painter
André François - cartoonist
Líviusz Gyulai - graphic designer
Henrik Heintz - painter
Miklós Izsó - sculptor
Jenő Jendrassik - painter
Ferenc Joachim - painter
Ede Kallós - sculptor
Lajos Kassák
André Kertész - photographer
Zsigmond Kisfaludi Stróbl - sculptor and visual artist
Miklós Ligeti - sculptor and visual artist
Imre Makovecz - architect
János Manninger - photographer
Ferenc Medgyessy - sculptor
Ladislav Mednyánszky - painter and philosopher
László Moholy-Nagy - painter and photographer
Gustav Morelli - engraver and illustrator
István Orosz - painter, printmaker, graphic designer, and animated film director
George Pal - animator, director, and producer
János Pásztor - sculptor
Ferenc Rófusz - animator
József Róna - sculptor and visual artist
Albert Schickedanz - architect and painter
Gyorgy Bp. Szabo - graphic designer and musician
Dezső Váli - painter
Victor Vasarely - visual artist
András Vikár - architect and educator
Tamás Waliczky - visual artist and animator
Ze'ev - caricaturist and illustrator

Athletes

Róbert Antal - water polo
Barbara Bagócsi - handball
Péter Bakonyi (born 1933) - fencing
Péter Bakonyi (born 1938) - fencing
Rudolf Bauer - discus throwing
Jim Benedek - footballer and manager^[2]
Tibor Benedek - water polo player and coach
Gyula Bíró - football
József Braun - footballer and manager
Ákos Buzsáky - football
Ibolya Csák - high jumper and gymnast
Zoltán Czibor - football
Tamás Darnyi - swimmer
Krisztina Egerszegi - swimmer
Ilona Elek - fencing
Zsolt Erdei - boxing
Jenő Fuchs - fencing
Tamás Gábor - fencing
János Garay - fencing
Oszkár Gerde - fencing
Aladár Gerevich - fencing
Sándor Gombos - fencing
Gyula Grosics - footballer and manager
Béla Guttmann - footballer and manager
Gábor Gyepes - football
Alfréd Hajós - swimmer and footballer
Olivér Halassy - swimmer and water polo player
Nándor Hidegkuti - footballer and manager
Gábor Horváth - kayaker and spring canoeist
Gary Kallos - wrestling
Ágnes Keleti - gymnast and coach
Vilmos Kertész - football
Ralph Klein - basketball player and coach
Zsuzsa Körmöczy - tennis
István Kovács - boxing
Pál Kovács - fencing
Zoltán Kovács - ice hockey coach and administrator
Lily Kronberger - figure skating
Imi Lichtenfeld - martial arts
Zoltán Magyar - gymnastics
Gyula Mándi - football
Opika von Méray Horváth - figure skating
Zoltan Nagy - professional wrestler
Henrik Nádler - football
László Papp - boxing
Attila Petschauer - fencing
Ferenc Puskás - football
Béla Rajki-Reich - swimming and water polo coach
László Schnell - ice hockey official
Béla Sebestyén - football
Gusztáv Sebes - football
Zoltán Stieber - football
László Szollás - figure skating
Ildikó Rejtő - fencing
Lajos Werkner - fencing
George Worth - fencing

Authors

Endre Ady - poet
János Arany - poet
Mihály Babits - poet, writer, and translator
Dániel Berzsenyi - poet
Péter Esterházy
György Faludy - poet
Ferenc Fejtő - journalist and political scientist
Tamás Harle - journalist
Attila József - poet
József Kármán
József Katona
Ferenc Kazinczy
Zsigmond Kemény
András Kenessei - art historian, writer, and journalist
Imre Kertész - author and laureate of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature
Ephraim Kishon - author and filmmaker
Arthur Koestler - writer and journalist
György Konrád - novelist
Domokos Kosáry - writer and historian
Imre Madách - writer and poet
Sándor Márai
Zsigmond Móricz
András Petőcz - writer and poet
Sándor Petőfi - poet and liberal revolutionary
Magda Szabó - novelist
László Teleki - writer and statesman
Mihály Vörösmarty - poet and dramatist
Zsuzsanna Budapest - writer, activist, playwright, and songwriter

Entertainment and Film

András Arató - model and internet meme
Barbara Baska - graphic designer and cinematographer
Gábor Bódy - director, screenwriter, theoretic, and actor
Monique Covét - pornographic actress and fetish model
Ágnes Csomor - actress
Eva Gabor - actress and socialite
Magda Gabor - actress and socialite
Zsa Zsa Gabor - actress and socialite
Mickey Hargitay - actor and 1955 Mr. Universe
Géza Hofi - actor and comedian
Harry Houdini - escapologist and stuntperson
Miklós Jancsó - director and screenwriter
Gyula Kabos - actor and comedian
Flóra Kádár - actress
Lajos Koltai - cinematographer and director
David Merlini - escapologist and world record holder
Barbara Palvin - model
Pál Regős - theatre director and choreographer
Ernő Rubik - inventor of the Rubik's cube
Ilona Staller - pornographic actress, politician, and singer
István Szabó - film director, screenwriter, and opera director
Béla Tarr - filmmaker
Mari Törőcsik - actress
Ivan Tors - playwright, film director, screenwriter, and film and television producer
Vilmos Zsigmond - cinematographer

Musicians

Niki Belucci - DJ
János Bihari - violinist
Attila Csihar - vocalist
Gábor Darvas - composer and musicologist
Béla Dekany - Hungarian-born British violinist
Ernő von Dohnányi - composer, pianist, and conductor
Antal Doráti - conductor and composer
Péter Eötvös - composer, conductor, and teacher
Tamás Erdélyi - drummer
Ferenc Erkel - composer, conductor, and pianist
Jakob Grün - violinist
Péter Halász - conductor
Pál Kadosa - composer
Zoltán Kodály - composer, ethnomusicologist, and pedagogue
Ildikó Komlósi - mezzo-soprano
György Kurtág - composer and pianist
Franz Liszt - composer and pianist
Ervin Nyiregyházi - pianist
Paul Alexander Nyiri - opera singer
Tibor Paul - conductor
Zoltán Peskó - conductor and composer
Charles Reiner - pianist and educator
András Schiff - pianist
Gábor Szabó - guitarist
Jenő Szenkár - conductor
László Vidovszky - composer and pianist
Márton Vizy - singer, songwriter, and composer

Politicians

Gyula Andrássy - statesman
Gábor Baross - statesman
Étienne Davignon - diplomat, civil servant, vice-president of the European Commission
Árpád Göncz - president of Hungary from 1990 to 2000
Nicholas Greiner
Gábor Harangozó
Miklós Horthy - admiral and statesman
Mihály Károlyi - president of Hungary from 1918 to 1919
Lajos Kossuth
László Kovács
Béla Kun - communist revolutionary
Tom Lantos
Imre Nagy - leader of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
István Széchenyi - noble and statesman
István Tisza
Miklós Wesselényi

Scientists

Franz Alexander - psychoanalyst and physician
Michael Balint - psychoanalyst
Zoltán Lajos Bay - physicist, professor, and engineer
Donát Bánki - engineer and inventor
Georg von Békésy - biophysicist and laureate of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Medicine
Ottó Bláthy - electrical engineer and inventor
Miksa Déri - electrical engineer
Loránd Eötvös - physicist
Sándor Ferenczi - psychoanalyst
Ábrahám Ganz - iron manufacturer, machine and technical engineer, entrepreneur
Dennis Gabor - electrical engineer, physicist, and laureate of the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics
George de Hevesy - radiochemist and laureate of the 1943 Nobel Prize in Chemistry ^[1]
Máté Hidvégi - biochemist and inventor
János Irinyi - chemist and inventor
György Jendrassik - physicist and mechanical engineer
Kálmán Kandó - engineer and inventor
Theodore von Kármán - mathematician, aerospace engineer and physicist
Philipp Lenard - physicist and laureate of the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physics^[1]^[3]
Alexander Nadas - pediatric cardiologist
John von Neumann - mathematician and physicist
George Andrew Olah - chemist and laureate of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry^[1]
John Polanyi - chemist and laureate of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry^[1]
Tivadar Puskás - inventor
Alexander Radó - cartographer, geographer, and Soviet military intelligence agent
István Rosztóczy - microbiologist and medical researcher
Géza Róheim - psychoanalyst and anthropologist
Charles Simonyi - software architect
Gábor A. Somorjai - chemistry professor and researcher
József Szabó von Szentmiklós - geologist
Paul B. Szanto - pathologist
Victor Szebehely - key figure in the development of the Apollo program
Albert Szent-Györgyi - biochemist and laureate of the 1937 Nobel Prize in Medicine^[1]
Leó Szilárd - physicist and inventor
Mária Telkes - biophysicist and inventor
Edward Teller - nuclear physicist
Eugene Wigner - physicist, mathematician, and laureate of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics^[1]
Károly Zipernowsky - engineer
Paula Zsidi - archeologist and museum director

Other notable people and honorary citizens

Princess Viktória de Bourbon de Parme - lawyer, businesswoman, and royalist
Gyula Breyer - chess player
Václav Havel - honorary citizen
Kati Kovács - honorary citizen
Andor Lilienthal - chess player
Johann Löwenthal - chess player
Géza Maróczy - chess player
József Mindszenty - cardinal
Susan Polgar - chess grandmaster
Judit Polgár - chess grandmaster
Zsófia Polgár - chess player, teacher, and artist
Lajos Portisch - chess player
Elvis Presley - honorary citizen
Mordechai Efraim Fischel Sofer-Zussman - chief rabbi of Budapest
George Soros - investor and philanthropist
László Szabó - chess player
Edward Teller - honorary citizen
Lech Walesa - honorary citizen
Raoul Wallenberg - honorary citizen

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nobel Laureates and Country of Birth
↑ "NASL–Jim Benedek". (NASL) jerseys. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
↑ The American Hungarian Federation – Founded 1906

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[nobel_list-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nobel Laureates and Country of Birth

[2] "NASL–Jim Benedek". (NASL) jerseys. Retrieved January 19, 2025.

[3] The American Hungarian Federation – Founded 1906

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